MÜPA CINEMA, the film club of the Palace of Arts and the Hungarian National Digital Archive and Film Institute (MaNDA), continues to welcome sell-out audiences for its third season. The series of musical films beginning in February presents a selection of iconic screen gems containing the biggest Hungarian hit tunes of the past 50 years. Audiences will get to see their favourite stars perform in a broad variety of genres, from operetta to socialist-era road movie, and from straight musical to re...tro parody. The casts feature everyone from János Sárdy to Zsuzsa Koncz, Hobo to the Latabár Brothers, Violetta Ferrari to János Gálvölgyi, Miklós Gábor to Hanna Honthy, and Imre Soós to “Bill the King”. The film club hosted by András Réz explores the source material behind the birth of hundreds of hit tunes, examining how the professional world of cabaret and operetta – inherited from the films of Gyula Kabos – was enriched by the social “workshops” of the 1950s: the factory, the swimming pool, the sports field. Seen through a variety of filters, in both period films and later satirical adaptations, we can discover how the naïve and love-struck, but ideologically ignorant, young worker was re-educated in the 1950s. During the lukewarm period of “goulash communism” in the 1960s, what role did the World Festival of Youth and Students and the TV talent show Ki mit tud? play in the emergence of beat groups such as Illés? How were iconic objects such as the Pacsirta radio set, noodles with grits or the Bambi soft drink – as well as socialism in general, with its declaration of communal cooperation and ideals – portrayed in a musical film of the 1960s, or in a later retro satire from the 1990s? Why has György Ránki’s musical Three Nights of Love (Egy szerelem három éjszakája) remained a popular favourite almost continuously since its appearance in the 1960s? How is it possible to capture the feeling of blues rock in the context of a documentary-style portrayal of the Kőbánya district of Budapest? And to the rhythm of which tune by the band Fonográf do we recall the emblematic image of the Zil truck grinding over the socialist asphalt having picked up a curly-haired blonde hitchhiker? The Ezüstlant choral society of the Vác Machine Works under Chorusmaster Réz is preparing to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The core members of the choir – among them the jack-of-all-trades bookkeeper Seregély – are also “daddies” who adopted Zsóka, the daughter of a former co-worker who was killed in an accident. Swing Tóni also wants to join the choir. The other young members, however, want to reform the antiquated spirit of the choir under the leadership of Feri Torma, a representative of the people’s movement and choral culture. This apparently sparks a battle between the generations, but the “reactionary” troublemakers are eventually unmasked in the shape of Réz and the thief Swing Tóni. This characteristic example of the schematic cinema of the 1950s typifies the “educational and productive” role of film at the time, where the main theme was “the reconditioning of enemies lurking in the cultural sphere”. In addition to unforgettable tunes including the duet of Imre Soós and Violetta Ferrari, Spring Winds Bring Floods (Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt), there are many numbers featuring workers singing happily in factories. Man and machine work in perfect harmony to the rhythm of a Russian-style march, whether toiling at the lathe or shuffling files around an office.
Parking information
We wish to inform you that in the event that Müpa Budapest's underground garage and outdoor car park are operating at full capacity, it is advisable to plan for increased waiting times when you arrive. In order to avoid this, we recommend that you depart for our events in time, so that you you can find the ideal parking spot quickly and smoothly and arrive for our performance in comfort. The Müpa Budapest underground garage gates will be operated by an automatic number plate recognition system. Parking is free of charge for visitors with tickets to any of our paid performances on that given day. The detailed parking policy of Müpa Budapest is available here.
Safe ticket purchase
Dear Visitors, please note that only tickets purchased from the Müpa website and official ticket offices are guaranteed to be valid. To avoid possible inconvenience, we suggest buying tickets to our performances and concerts via the mupa.hu website, the Interticket national network (jegy.hu) or at our official ticket offices.